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Special  Training  for  Library  Work 

Electra  C.  Doren,  Dayton  (O.)  public  library 


Read  at  the  Library  congress,  Omaha,  Oct.  i,  1898 


From  Public  Libraries , January,  1899 


i 

p 

XT 


The  librarian  of  today  is  a person 
with  a distinct  ideal  of  the  mission  of 
books  to  people  and  a distinct  purpose 
to  realize  that  ideal.  He  is  a product 
of  an  epochal  movement  toward  popu- 
lar education  as  a foundation  for  popu- 
lar government. 

“It  has  been  somewhat  characteristic 
of  our  foremost  librarians,”  says  Mr 
Fletcher,  of  Amherst,  “that  they  were, 
and  worked  as,  men  of  genius  rather 
than  men  of  routine.”  But  I believe 
that  even  they  would  have  been  glad, 
had  such  a thing  been  possible  as  spe- 
cial training  for  their  work,  and  that  the 
very  lack  of  it  has,  no  doubt,  with  other 
compelling  circumstances,  made  them 
bequeath  to  and  impress  upon  the  suc- 
ceeding generation  of  librarians  the 
need  of  it,  and  even  to  force  the  oppor- 
tunity for  it. 

The  only  kind  of  training  for  library 
work  possible  previous  to  1888  was 
training  in  rather  than  for  it,  and  in  no 
sense  was  it  special  or  formal.  It  might 
be  called  training  for  library  training. 
The  means  for  this  kind  of  training  were 
such  as  grew  out  of  the  adaptation  of 
crude  materials,  a few  books,  and  no 
appliances  to  speak  of,  to  the  occa- 
sional requirements  of  a few  seekers 
after  books.  And  even  the  means  to 
meet  the  limited  and  occasional  call  of 
the  few  were  far  from  satisfactory;  yet 
every  failure  and  every  success  led  to 
further  trial.  These  experiments  in  li- 
brary management  were  going  on  simul- 
taneously in  libraries  isolated  from  each 


other  until  the  formation  of  the  Amer- 
ican Library  Association  fixed  in  the 
minds  of  librarians  the  idea  of  discus- 
sing and  of  comparing  ways  of  doing 
the  same  things,  and  of  combining  and 
unifying  into  principle  the  results  of 
experience.  This  was  the  first  step  to- 
wards special  training  for  library  work. 
Fifteen  years  later  the  New  York  State 
library  school  was  founded  and  in  quick 
succession  thereafter  three  other 
schools,  under  the  direction  of  its  grad- 
uates. 

Special  training  for  library  work  is 
a term  more  easily  described  than  de- 
fined. Experience  in  library  routine  in 
any  or  all  of  the  departments  of  work 
in  one  library  is  not  “special  training,” 
though  it  may  induce  fitness  for  such 
work  and  lead  to  specialization;  neither 
should  the  listening  to  lectures  on  li- 
brary subjects  or  mere  class,  club,  or 
seminar  discussion  of  library  methods 
be  called  training. 

A course  in  library  science  may  be 
more  or  less  comprehensive  and  de- 
tailed according  as  it  is  intended  to  be 
elementary,  secondary,  or  higher  in- 
struction, but  in  no  case  is  it  training  in 
a special  sense  unless  the  subjects  in 
the  course  are  made  to  cover  a definite 
field,  and  there  is  repeated  drill  in 
developing  principles  and  applying 
them  to  specific  problems  set  for  the 
student  to  solve  within  a given  time. 
Inspection  and  correction  of  his  work 
by  the  instructor,  practice  and  test  for 
the  student  until  he  has  mastered  the 


2 


Special  Training  for  Library  Work 


difficulties,  and  can  really  do  a given 
amount  of  work  in  a given  time  ac- 
cording to  a definite  standard  of  thor- 
oughness, accuracy,  and  form,  properly 
constitute  special  training.  I shall  not 
attempt  to  outline  such  a course,  but 
for  the  subjects  which  would  be  in- 
cluded in  a systematic  study  of  library 
economy,  the  handbooks  of  the  library 
schools,  and  the  proceedings  of  the 
American  Library  Association,  session 
of  1898,  will  be  found  informing;  and, 
as  showing  the  adaptation  and  selection 
of  subjects  for  elementary  training,  the 
annual  reports  of  those  libraries  where 
it  has  been  attempted  by  class  work,  as 
at  Los  Angeles,  Cleveland,  and  Dayton. 

Though  now  no  longer  in  an  ex- 
perimental stage,  the  library  schools, 
as  shown  by  the  contributions  of  their 
directors  to  the  recently  published  A. 
L.  A.  proceedings  of  1898,  show  that 
they  are  still  binding  experience  to  ex- 
perience in  the  selection  and  extension 
of  their  courses,  and  in  the  formation 
and  guidance  of  their  respective  poli- 
cies, both  to  set  the  pace  and  to  meet 
the  demands  of  the  library  work  of  the 
future  as  they  conceive  it  in  its  relation 
to  social  and  educational  development. 
The  advocates  of  special  library  train- 
ing do  not  claim  that  it  can  make  either 
libraries,  the  library  clientage,  or  even 
librarians,  but  it  has  been  proven  that 
training  for  the  individual  helps  in  the 
making  of  all  three,  and  is  bound  to  de- 
termine tendency  not  only  in  the  detail 
work  of  the  library,  but  in  the  higher 
forms  of  library  extension. 

The  schools  are  emphasizing  the  con- 
ception which  certain  librarians  have  al- 
ready embodied  in  their  work,  namely, 
that  the  library,  particularly  the  free 
circulating  library,  is  a social  force  in 
the  body  social,  and  must  be  adminis- 
tered as  such;  and,  further  than  this, 
that  the  mechanism  of  library  adminis- 
tration should  be  adequate  to  the  spirit 
of  such  a conception  of  the  library’s 
function 

To  those  who  have  to  do  with  the 
modern  library  movement  from  the  ad- 
ministrative side,  to  executives  of  large 
libraries,  but  particularly  to  trustees  of 


libraries  large  or  small,  the  trend  of  li- 
brary training,  as  shown  by  the  sum- 
mary of  the  first  ten  years  of  its  history, 
must,  in  itself,  be  significant  as  the 
reflex  of  experience  and  effort  toward 
meeting,  by  means  of  preparation  of  the 
worker,  the  problems  of  library  work. 

What  are  the  particulars  which  ex- 
perience has  shown  must  be  emphasized 
in  the  training  of  the  future?  And  what 
the  lines  upon  which  library  training  is 
seeking  to  specialize?  It  is  to  be  noted 
that  the  educational  requirements  for 
entrance  to  the  technical  schools  are 
being  raised  instead  of  lowered;  that 
the  scheme  of  subjects  taught  is  a 
broadening  one  and  is  socially  sympa- 
thetic; and  that  along  with  all  this  the 
technical  drill  is  more  rigid,  and  the 
grade  of  personal  qualifications  and 
technical  attainment  for  graduation 
more  exacting.  While  this  is  true  in 
a degree  of  all  of  the  schools  it  is  par- 
ticularly true  of  the  oldest  of  all  the 
schools,  that  at  Albany.  In  all  of  them 
a liberal  education  as  a basis  for  the 
special  technical  training  is  a sine  qua 
non , and  the  reasons  are  not  far  to 
seek.  The  classification,  accountingand 
catalog  records  are  the  core  around 
which  the  work  of  a library  of  necessity 
revolves.  They  must  be  correct,  accu- 
rate, and  systematic  in  form  and  con- 
tents. Scholarship  for  bibliographic 
work,  for  classification  and  cataloging, 
must,  with  the  advancement  of  science 
and  the  arts,  and  the  increased  size  and 
variety  of  book  collections  themselves, 
be  more  minute,  varied,  and  special,  Jn 
other  words,  he  who  would  have  power 
to  analyze  the  contents  of  any  and  all 
books,  and  construct  the  forms  whereby 
such  analysis  becomes  a permanently 
usable  record  for  the  investigator,  must 
not  only  have  wide  and  varied  and  spe- 
cial knowledge  to  draw  from,  but  the 
skill  to  organize  it  in  the  plainest  pos- 
sible form  and  in  the  shortest  possible 
time.  Added  to  such  knowledge  and 
skill  is  the  personal  element,  the  co- 
hering, coordinating  sympathy  which 
senses  out  the  paths  by  which  the  aver- 
age mind  is  likely  to  make  its  ap- 
proaches to  the  knowledge  it  is  in 


Special  Training  for  Library  Work 


3 


search  of.  From  such  knowledge  and 
sympathy  will  result  careful  selection 
and  arrangement  of  subject-heading 
and  cross-reference.  The  cataloger  thus 
leads  the  seeker  not  only  to  the  partic- 
ular thing  he  is  looking  for,  but  opens 
up  the  field  of  possible  research,  and 
points  out  all  the  bypaths  and  con- 
necting lines  between  related  subjects. 
It  is  this  particular  faculty  which  dif- 
ferentiates the  real  cataloger  from  the 
tabulating  machine  for  which  he  is  too 
often  mistaken.  It  makes  of  his  work 
the  living  link  betWeen  the  reader  and 
the  storehouse  of  books,  and  all  the 
more  living  if  his  catalog  is  used  for 
the  public  by  an  assistant  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  its  structure,  whether 
he  be  able  or  not  to  make  a catalog. 

Second,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  spirit- 
ual ideal  of  the  influence  of  books  is 
specializing  into  a more  intimate  in- 
quiry as  to  the  fruitful  sowing  of  them 
among  readers.  There  is  psychology  in 
library  work.  What  books  to  what 
people?  is  the  question.  The  ideal  with 
which  we  started  out,  of  bringing  books 
and  people  together,  means  now  the 
bringing  of  good  books,  reliable  books, 
true  books,  interesting  books,  timely 
books  and  bright  books  to  all  people 
everywhere,  whatever  their  age  or  con- 
dition. 

And,  lastly,  it  is  once  more  evident 
that  technical  skill  must  again  be 
brought  into  play,  and  this  time  for 
final  practical  reason  of  expenditure. 
Economy  demands  expedition  and  cer- 
tainty in  method,  for  the  most  expen- 
sive of  all  service  is  that  which  has  to 
be  revised  and  done  over  again.  Prog- 
ress in  attaining  library  ideals  is  really 
conditioned  by  the  conception  of  ivhat 
it  is,  ability  to  do,  and  ability  to  pay. 

When  time  is  paid  for  it  is  money. 
None  but  the  skillful  producer  can  ac- 
complish permanent  work  and  save 
time  on  it.  It  is  his  business  to  cut  out 
waste  of  all  kinds  and  degrees,  to  co- 
relate system  with  system  and  to  make 
them  to  an  extent  self-accounting  and 
self-acting,  to  avoid  duplicating  and 
overlapping,  to  lop  off  unnecessaries 
and  to  condense  and  make  complete  the 


necessary.  The  cry  and  exhortation  of 
Carlyle,  “Produce,  man,  produce!”  is 
becoming  more  importunate,  and  the 
deeper  the  spiritual  convictions  of  the 
library  worker  the  greater  will  be  his 
energy  and  ingenuity  in  devising  the 
means  for  direct  and  sure  communica- 
tion with  his  spiritual  ideal  through  the 
material  conditions  surrounding  him. 
For  he  is  supported  and  continually  led 
on  by  the  aspiration  and  love  which 
run  to  the  root  of  social  needs  in  so  far 
as  they  are  to  be  answered  from  the 
use  of  books. 

What  is  true  of  the  higher  technical 
training  given  at  Albany,  Pratt,  Drexel, 
and  the  Illinois  state  library  school  is 
not  less  true  of  elementary  training. 
F'or  the  same  subjects,  though  less  in 
amount,  are  taught  where  there  have 
been  from  time  to  time  shorter  and 
more  general  courses  of  library  instruc- 
tion, such  as  have  been  given  through 
university  extension  lectures,  summer 
library  schools,  and  the  training  classes 
for  local  apprentices  and  library  assist- 
ants in  publiclibraries.  Summer  schools 
varying  from  five  to  six  weeks  in  the 
length  of  their  courses  have  been  held 
in  this  country  for  some  years  at 
Amherst,  Mass.,  at  Madison,  Wis.,  at 
Albany,  N.  Y.,  and  last  summer  at  Co- 
lumbus, Ohio,  and  in  the  Cleveland 
public  library. 

Library  training  classes  of  courses 
extending  over  one  and  two  years  for 
apprentices  and  library  assistants  have 
been  instituted  in  the  Los  Angeles  and 
Dayton  public  libraries.  The  Forbes 
library,  Northampton,  and  the  public 
libraries  of  Butte,  Mont.,  Denver,  Col., 
and  Hartford,  Conn.,  have  also  had 
classes  and  clubs  for  library  discussion. 
In  England  the  Library  assistants’  as- 
sociation has  set  apart  a week  annually 
for  a summer  school  or  institute. 

These,  I believe,  cover  the  various 
grades  and  shades  of  special  library 
training  now  in  operation.  The  im- 
portant thing  is  that  recognition  of  the 
fact  that  the  body  of  library  science  so 
far  as  developed  at  the  present  time 
cannot  be  an  accidental  acquirement, 
but  must  be  regularly  learned  as  other 


4 


Special  Training 

things  are  learned,  is  gaining  ground 
rapidly;  and  the  action  of  two  public 
libraries  in  this  country  in  establishing 
classes  for  the  express  purpose  of  train- 
ing assistants  already  holding  positions 
in  them,  and  only  incidentally  admitting 
applicants  from  the  outside,  certainly 
places  a significant  emphasis  upon  the 
matter. 

Experience  throughout  elementary 
as  well  as  higher  training  would  seem 
to  show  that  whethe'r  the  training  shall 
eventuate  in  higher,  second  rate,  or 
third  rate  skill,  other  things  being  equal, 
is  rather  more  dependent  on  the  stu- 
dent’s previous  educational  equipment 
than  upon  his  previous  experience  in 
library  work. 

In  the  present  stage  of  library  devel- 
opment and  specialization  “working  up” 
is  not  so  practicable  or  possible  as 
might  at  first  appear,  except  for  gen- 
iuses for  whom  no  one  pretends  to  ac- 
count. 

To  begin  library  work  with  dusting 
books,  and  to  keep  on  dusting  books, 
will  not,  even  after  many  years  of  dust- 
ing, make  a reference  clerk,  cataloger, 
or  librarian,  however  faithfully  the  dust- 
ing may  have  been  done.  This  I know 
is  contrary  to  opinion  and  practice  now 
generally  current. 

It  is  true,  nevertheless,  that  the  desk 
assistant  for  lack  of  a systematic  and 
comprehensive  even  though  a limited 
view  of  his  work,  is  likely  always  to  re- 
main a desk  assistant.  When  custom  is 
dull  he  can  do  nothing  but  wait  for  cus- 
tom unless  he  be  instructed  in  forms  of 
minor  clerical  work;  but  there  are  real 
obstructions  in  the  way  of  his  improve- 
ment, even  in  this  limited  direction. 
Some  one  has  to  teach  him,  inspect  and 
correct  his  work,  and  all  on  time  paid 
for  both  teacher  and  learner.  Owing 
to  circumstances,  the  instruction  is 
likely  also  to  be  fitful  and  irregular, 
lacking  in  uniformity  for  the  succession 
of  assistants  whom  it  may  be  necessary 
to  prepare  for  the  work;  nor  can  the 
results  obtained  be  so  satisfactory  to 
the  library  as  would  be  the  case  if  in- 
struction were  uniform  and  consistent. 
Again  in  the  case  of  reference  work, 


for  Library  Work 

the  untrained  assistant  may  have  a gift 
for  happy  guessing.  Repeated  expe- 
rience in  the  same  lines  of  inquiry  will 
gradually  gain  for  him  some  skill  in 
handling  his  own  library’s  collection, 
but  his  range  is  still  too  confined, 
for  without  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
classification  and  of  the  structure  of  the 
catalog,  without  some  reliable  biblio- 
graphic acquaintance  with  the  book 
world,  his  value,  though  appreciated, 
cannot  but  be  local  and  uncertain,  and 
after  years  of  work  perhaps,  his  own 
outlook  for  a position  is  a precarious 
one.  His  toil  and  his  experience,  be- 
cause not  laid  out  in  the  first  place  in  a 
systematic  manner,  have  not,  after  all, 
brought  him  to  an  independent  degree 
of  skill.  As  a worker,  certainly  this 
much  were  due  him,  that  he  be  devel- 
oped professionally  and  allowed  to 
stand  on  merit,  rather  than  that  he  be 
retained  on  sufferance,  because  he  has 
done  his  unaided  best,  when  with  the 
right  help  he  could  and  would  have  done 
so  much  more.  A standard,  therefore, 
there  should  be,  of  “best”  quite  as  much 
for  the  worker’s  sake  as  for  the  work’s 
sake. 

Again,  the  manysidedness  and  close 
interdependence  of  the  parts  of  library 
work  make  it  impossible  to  train  com- 
pletely for  one  thing  only,  without 
training  in  a measure  in  all;  and  the 
multifarious  demands  upon  a library 
force,  particularly  in  the  ordinary  mid- 
dle sized  public  library,  make  it  indis- 
pensable that  the  work  of  some  of  the 
assistants  be  interchangeable  in  the 
clerical  routine  of  loan,  order,  acces- 
sion, and  catalog  departments,  as  well 
as  in  giving  intelligent  aid  to  readers 
in  the  use  of  the  catalogs  and  indexes 
of  the  reference  room.  These  assistants 
are  helpers,  not  heads  of  departments 
charged  with  the  responsibility  of  de- 
termining form  or  policy  for  any  of  the 
lines  of  work.  But  to  be  real  helpers 
they  must  be  masters  of  the  mechanical 
forms  to  be  used,  able  to  produce  a 
clear  and  accurate  record,  and  must 
have  an  acquaintance  with  the  nomen- 
clature of  bibliography,  classification, 
and  cataloging,  otherwise  they  will  be 


Special  Training  for  Library  Work 


5 


unable  to  followthe  simplest  directions. 
They  may  in  time  be  able  to  work  inde- 
pendently of  supervision,  but  there  is 
still  a wide  difference  between  the 
trained  routine  worker  of  limited  edu- 
cation and  the  expert  specialist  who 
adds  to  a knowledge  of  precedents  a safe 
knowledge  of  expedients,  and  who,  be- 
cause of  all  this,  is  creative  in  his  own 
line  and  a final  authority.  Without  defin- 
ite lines  of  special  library  training  laid 
out  for  the  improvement  of  the  local  as- 
sistant, the  association  of  the  trained 
specialist  with  the  untrained  worker 
does  not  so  surely  contribute  to  the  grad- 
ual elevation  of  the  latter’s  methods  as 
might  at  first  be  supposed,  and  that  for 
an  obvious  reason.  The  compromises, 
the  continual  readjustment  of  method 
and  lowering  of  standard  made  neces- 
sary to  meet  the  capacity  and  attain- 
ments of  the  untrained  person,  tend  not 
only  to  nullify  the  effectiveness  of  the 
better  and  more  scientific  methods,  but 
to  undermine  and  destroy  in  our  spe- 
cialist those  very  qualities  and  attain- 
ments on  account  of  which  he  has  been 
employed,  and  which  we  expect  to 
leave  their  impress  upon  our  library 
system.  So  insidious  and  so  sure  is  the 
effect  of  such  conditions  upon  profes- 
sional standards  and  ideals  that,  other 
things  being  equal,  the  trained  person 
would  be  justified  from  a practical,  busi- 
ness point  of  view,  in  accepting  a lower 
rate  of  remuneration  in  a library  where 
assistants  were  trained  than  in  one 
where  no  such  training  was  deemed 
expedient  or  possible.  On  the  other 
hand,  without  the  help  of  the  routine 
worker  for  the  mechanical  details,  the 
expert  cannot  effect  an  amount  of  work 
at  all  justifying  the  outlay  of  the  li- 
brary for  his  special  capacity,  for  his 
energies  are  diverted  from  the  lines  in 
which  no  one  but  himself  can  act,  and 
they  are  consumed  in  routine  which 
might  be  fully  as  well  performed  at  a 
less  expensive  rate.  His  time  should  be 
free  for  the  permanent  lines  of  the  work, 
and  for  solving  the  knotty  and  intricate 
questions  which  are  always  arising — in- 
stead of  doing  the  mechanical  work  of 
lettering,  we  will  say,  the  notation  on 


hundreds  of  book  labels,  or  in  filing 
cards,  or  writing  in  headings  for  thou- 
sands of  catalog  entries.  But  if  the  li- 
brary goes  only  so  far  as  to  give  him 
ignorant  and  untrained  assistants,  it 
only  adds  to  his  task  that  of  teaching, 
correcting,  and  inspecting  their  work, 
for  without  such  inspection  the  very 
accuracy  and  certainty  of  the  chief 
records  of  the  library,  for  which  the 
expert  help  has  been  employed,  will  be 
vitiated  by  faulty  and  unreliable  entries, 
and  when  they  are  most  needed  as  au- 
thority they  will  fail  to  bear  the  test. 
The  work  which  has  been  paid  for  at  a 
rate  to  have  insured  against  this  calam- 
ity proves  in  the  end  valueless. 

Since  a public  institution  is  expected 
to  draw  the  greater  part  of  its  helpers 
from  the  community  that  supports  it,  it 
is  clear  that  for  some  time  to  come  the 
local  assistant  will  have  to  be  trained 
where  he  is.  In  any  event,  supervision 
and  inspection  of  the  untrained  product 
must  take  the  time  of  some  one  for  the 
task, hence  itwould  seemto  beeconomy, 
where  there  are  several  assistants  re- 
quiring such  supervision,  to  consolidate 
it  into  one  period  for  all,  to  systematize 
and  formulate  the  codes  of  rules  for  the 
necessary  routine  of  the  library,  and  to 
place  the  v hole  thing  on  a definite  basis 
of  regular  class  work,  drill  and  test.  For 
the  integrity  required  on  the  business 
side  of  library  management  must  be  an 
inner  regenerating  spirit  working  from 
within  outward,  fitting  and  adapting 
each  system  and  each  individual  under 
that  system  to  the  needs  and  means  of 
that  particular  library. 

Moreover,  instruction  by  class  train- 
ing has  specific  advantages.  It  is  sys- 
tematic, purposeful,  uniform,  limited. 
It  forces  the  student  into  the  habit  of 
taking  care  of  the  moments,  and  of  ex- 
pecting to  produce  something  within  a 
limit  of  time.  It  substitutes  tangible 
results,  as  evidenced  by  class  work  in 
the  place  of  mere  opinion  in  judgingof 
an  assistant’s  abilities.  It  furnishes  a 
basis  for  intelligent  selection  and  com- 
parison of  the  capacities  of  several  as- 
sistants for  a variety  of  work,  and  it 
faces  the  worker  with  something  defi* 


6 


Special  Training  for  Library  Work 


nite  to  do  according  to  a definite  way 
of  doing.  Given  desire  upon  his  part 
for  training,  and  confidence  in  his  abil- 
ity to  profit  by  it,  the  aim  of  the  in- 
structors must  be  for  correct  form, 
according  to  stated  standard  of  thor- 
oughness, accuracy,  and  speed.  And 
from  first  to  last  it  is  standard  which 
must  be  enforced,  for  it  is  exactly  here 
that  the  local  assistant  has  been  most 
neglected,  and  here,  too,  is  precisely 
where  great  waste,  and  oftentimes  seri- 
ous friction, arises  in  theadministration; 
for,  through  the  natural  gravitation  of 
work  to  those  who  have  capacity  and 
willingness,  injustice  arises,  the  better 
worker  in  proportion  to  his  usefulness 
being  less  well  paid  than  the  less  spir- 
ited and  alert  one.  The  poison  of  a 
vague  dissatisfaction  arising  from  such 
unequal  distribution  will  finally  per- 
meate the  library  atmosphere,  the  un- 
systematic, or  showy,  blustering  worker 
being  even  less  content  than  the  one 
who  carries  forward  the  routine  and 
bears  the  brunt  as  best  he  may. 

Insensibly  the  expenses  of  library 
administration  creep  up,  and  that  more 
rapidly  than  the  library  fund  increases. 
The  system  upon  which  a library  is  con- 
ducted, the  thoroughness  and  fitness 
which  the  librarian  and  assistants  bring 
to  their  work,  must  be  looked  to  and  de- 
pended upon  for  preventing  the  waste 
and  innumerable  leakages  from  misdi- 
rected energies,  faulty  methods,  and 
indifferent  spirit. 

Special  training  for  library  work  does 
not  encourage  drones  and  the  unfit  to 
continue  in  it.  If  made  the  prime  quali- 
fication for  appointment,  it  relieves  the 
administration  of  much  embarrassment 
from  pressure  of  political  and  social  in- 
fluence in  the  selection  of  assistants. 

The  buying  and  housing  of  a collec- 
tion of  books  is  only  the  plant  for  the 
operation  of  a library;  but  the  running 
of  the  plant,  its  service  to  the  public,  is 


a problem  of  administration,  and  pro-: 
ductiveness  in  proportion  as  the  cost  of 
production  becomes  for  the  executive 
and  the  trustee  the  criterion,  not  it  may 
be  of  the  library’s  real  usefulness;  but 
certainly  of  their  own  good  steward- 
ship. 

The  vital  point  of  contact,  the  oppor- 
tunity for  direct  personal  touch  between 
the  public  and  the  library,  must  be 
through  the  library  assistant  who  per- 
sonally meets  with  the  public,  and  this 
is  the  last  and  best  reason  for  training 
him.  His  position  must  come  to  be  re- 
garded by  himself  and  his  employers  as 
being  in  and  of  itself  a “calling,”  not  a 
mere  way-station  to  large  salary  or 
executive  position.  While  library  trus- 
tees and  librarians  certainly  have  a 
distinct  responsibility  to  discharge  in 
requiring  a standard  of  attainment  for 
each  department  of  library  work,  and 
should  in  all  possible  ways  supply  the 
conditions  and  furnish  the  incitements 
to  maintain  the  personal  effectiveness 
of  trained  people,  nevertheless  for  the 
local  assistant  the  final  responsibility 
is  with  himself,  and  he  is  the  strongest 
who  himself  takes  the  initiative  in  in- 
terpreting his  functions  broadly. 

Not  by  contention,  nor  by  adroitness, 
nor  by  suavity  merely,  will  he  come  to 
an  understanding  of  his  work  and  his 
opportunities  in  it;  but  by  the  earnest 
and  steady  pursuit  of  ideals  of  thor- 
oughness and  expedition,  and  the  gain- 
ing of  positive  technical  information 
and  skill.  Without  these  honest  foun- 
dations first,  and  without  intimate  spir- 
itual fitness  won  through  reading  and 
through  following  up  the  wants  of  the 
readers  that  come  to  him  daily,  he  will 
never  come  to  that  supporting  sense  of 
his  own  power  which  tells  him  that  he 
has  a place  to  fill,  nor  will  he  in  any 
other  way  attain  the  patience  and  fer- 
vor which  will  make  him  sufficient  for 
the  things  that  will  be  required  of  him. 


